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Randy Rainbow Interviews Kellyanne Conway—in the Key of ‘Fiddler’

Comedian Randy Rainbow takes on ‘alternative facts’ in Internet Anatevka

by
Miranda Cooper
February 07, 2017
YouTube
Randy Rainbow. YouTube
YouTube
Randy Rainbow. YouTube

In the funniest YouTube video you’ll watch today, an internet comedian named Randy Rainbow parodies the Trump Administration’s so-called “alternative facts” using Fiddler on the Roof’s “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.” As is his typical format, the video shows a faux-interview with Trump administration Counselor Kellyanne Conway, or, as Rainbow puts it, “My guest, a woman who sells more fiction than J.K. Rowling: Kellyanne Con Artist Conway.” Here, Rainbow lampoons the now-infamous “Bowling Green Massacre,” and breaks into song. At one point, he multiplies into three, wearing a babushka like Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava. The lyrics are very clever, often rhyming with those of the original song.

His use of Fiddler on the Roof to critique this political moment is not without precedent. In the latest Fiddler Broadway run, which ended in December, Tevye appears in modern clothing (a red jacket) before stepping back into the scene and joining the circle of soon-to-be refugees leaving Anatevka. At the time, Bartlett Sher, the director, intended this as “an inescapable visual nod to the current refugee crisis,” and the cast has been fundraising for the cause.

While obviously less subtle and artful, Rainbow’s update of Fiddler is its own kind of masterpiece, and a hilarious one at that:

Miranda Cooper is an editorial intern at Tablet. Follow her on Twitter here.